While I do not give the Bill the welcome it received in so many quarters since it was first published, that does not mean that I oppose it. However, during 30 years as a member of a county council, quite a number of rate collectors have been appointed. If I were to applaud this Bill I would be false to myself and to those in whose appointment I took a part.
I agree that the system was bad and that it was a responsibility that no public representative wanted. At the same time, it was a responsibility that we all accepted when we went forward for election. When a rate collector post became vacant, due to the retirement or death of a rate collector, a new appointment had to be made. Every member on that local authority was under severe pressure not alone from the political party of which he was a member but also from friends and people in other organisations.
The good thing about it was that when the appointment was made at a council meeting it was generally done in the open and if you made a promise to a person that you were going to support him you could not back out because the local papers would publish who so-and-so voted for. That was one good condition of the appointment of rate collectors. It is true to say that rate collectors were appointed on a political basis. It is also true to say that 95 per cent of the members of the local authorities were elected on a political basis. As a member of a small party, to be able to get a member of my own party elected as a rate collector, I saw nothing wrong with the system.
While the accusation of political appointments and political graft were bandied around the place in many of the appointments that were made in my local authority I have seen members of the council from the three different political parties voting for a particular appointee and members of the three particular parties again voting for somebody who was the runner-up. Could that be described as a political appointment merely because those of us who are members of a local authority also happened to be members of political parties? We could be accused of having appointed rate collectors on a political basis. I make no apology for that. The record has proved that no matter what basis rate collectors were appointed on they all have been a credit to those who appointed them.
As a member of a local authority who has taken part in a number of appointments, I am proud of all the people I helped to have elected. I am also proud of those who were appointed in whose campaign I played no part. They are all giving excellent service and nobody can accuse any of them of ever having abused their powers as rate collectors in the interest of any political party. I know of one rate collector in my own county whom I voted for and whom I knew was an active member of another political party who has stood in at least two or three general elections since he was appointed a rate collector. He has given great service as a rate collector and nobody could ever accuse him of ever using his influence as a rate collector in any political way.
It has been a difficult task for members of local authorities down the years. If I were to throw my hat in the air and applaud this Bill I would be saying we have taken part in a sham over the 30 years that I have been a member of a local authority. This was the system of appointing rate collectors. Why it was left that way I do not know. It was a responsibility that every member of a local authority accepted and had to take part in. If I were to applaud it now I would be saying that what I did down the years was not correct.
An attempt was made to introduce the system of office collection in the county council of which I am a member. I and the majority of the members of the county council opposed it on the basis that a system of collecting from the office was impersonal. The rate collector's task can be a difficult one. It may not be as difficult in 1972 as it was in 1942 or 1952 when money was scarce and people were finding it difficult to pay the small amount of rates. Rate collectors, knowing the circumstances of the people from whom they collected rates, adopted a very humane attitude. They did not press people to pay up by the 31st March or 30th September so that they could have their percentage collected to qualify for the high bonus.
It is well known to any Senator here who is a member of a local authority that in many cases the rate collector paid the rates out of his own pocket and, perhaps, had to wait one month to collect the money from that ratepayer afterwards. In many cases you had a situation where a farmer might be compelled to sell stock in March so that he would have the money to pay the rates before the 31st March. If he sold at that time, perhaps, he would be selling at a lower price than he would get in April or May. In many ways rate collectors helped that type of person. If we were to have a system of collecting rates from the office, I doubt if that opportunity would have been given to any ratepayer. The rates must be available on the day they are due. For that reason I oppose the office collection system. It is fine to say that the ESB collect rents this way or to point out that annuities are collected in this way. If you find at the end of the year that where the rate collector collects the rates you have a collection of 98 per cent to 99.5 per cent, this proves that it will be difficult to find a better way than the system of collection that has been in operation.
About ten or 12 years ago on my council, shortly after a councillor was elected he found himself confronted with the problem of having to take part in the election of a rate collector. Being new to public life, he found that it was a difficult task because so many of his friends came to him and because it was an open ballot he could not promise them all number one. He had a brainwave and put down a notice of motion at a council meeting that the best way of appointing the rate collectors was not by open ballot but by secret ballot. A man should be prepared to put his money where his mouth is. It would be very easy in a secret ballot to promise all your friends you would support them. If they got one vote you were let off the hook.